The crazy stairs I was telling you about!

Liège had a cool train station and we had a view of it from our hotel room

Liège at night

Romantic night away in Belgium

Our feet have been on Holland soil too long and we got the itch to get away! So today we're hopping on a train to Liège, a cute French city in Belgium. Highlights will be the awesome Sunday market that runs along the river tomorrow (hoping it doesn't rain) and some crazy stairs. Those stairs remind me of San Francisco and some of it's crazy city stairs. I'll post pictures once we're home!

Artis de Partis

Our new friend, Artis de Partis, is the Amsterdam Zoo's mascot. We got him in keychain (sleutelhanger) form yesterday when we were at the zoo. He loved the elephants (olifanten).

Our day at the zoo

Today we decided to spend the afternoon at the amazing Amsterdam zoo called Artis. Some highlights were the monkeys, lions (which reminded us of Stuart), and the giraffes.

Gotta love the Dutch!

Today I decided to walk by a local Ben and Jerry's because they are known for having great "American" style Chocolate Chip cookies (seriously, this is something that is hard to find in the Netherlands). Anyway, I was thrilled to see a huge sign on the sidewalk in front of the store advertising such cookies! My mouth was watering.

I walk in and scan the place... no cookies. So I inquire, "Hello, do you have any cookies today?" "No, sorry, not today." "Are you going to have some later perhaps?" I asked. "Ummm... I don't know... maybe tomorrow, maybe next week."

What? MAYBE next week? That would never happen in America.

In the US, if there were no cookies in stock the sidewalk sign would get pulled inside. And, if someone inquired about cookies an expected answer might be, "I'm so sorry we ran out of cookies, but there is a batch in the oven and they will be ready in the next hour!" or "We are out of them today but we'll have more tomorrow. Stop by first thing in the morning!"
 

we like funny hats

Take the stairs!

Homemade potato skins

First you bake them...



Then you gut them out...


Don't forget the toppings!


Then you grease the baking sheet...


And fill them with the goods.


End product: yummy, crispy, melty, 'skins.



My husband saw them and said, "that looks like a heart attack."
 

Big news for California Counselors!

NCC Legislative Alert

October 12, 2009

California Becomes 50th State to License Counselors

California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed SB 788, legislation establishing licensure for mental health counselors. With the addition of California, this means that there is licensure for counselors in all states.

NBCC would like to recognize the hard work of the California Coalition for Counselor Licensure (CCCL) as well as the countless dedicated counselors and graduate students who have written, called and visited legislators.

Specific information, including requirements and implementation dates, is posted on the CCCL Web site at www.caccl.org.

Again, thank you for your support of the counseling profession.

Sincerely,

Thomas W. Clawson, Ed.D, NCC, LPC

President and CEO

National Board for Certified Counselors

California Coalition for Counselor Licensure

P.O. Box 6493, Ventura, CA 93006-6493

Email: info@caccl.org Website: www.caccl.org

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

October 12, 2009

CALIFORNIA’S GOVERNOR SIGNS the COUNSELOR LICENSURE BILL!

SB 788 BECOMES LAW IN CALIFORNIA

After seven years and three bills, CCCL is proud to announce that its third bill has been approved by California’s Legislature and signed into law by its Governor. This would not have been possible without the dedicated counselors and graduate students throughout the state, and the state and national organizations that support professional counseling.

Girls' Weekend in Antwerp

Belgium... land of amazing chocolate, waffles, friets and great beer... can you think of a better place to go for girls' weekend? We were sad that our friend Jenn couldn't join us as planned, but we made the most of our night away anyway.

Out celebrating

We decided to celebrate our "unanniversary" at our favorite Dutch restaurant tonight, called Op de Tuin, which means, on the garden. They had a new menu last night, very wintery, and some amazing vegetarian croquettes. So Dutch, but so yummy!

Letting the cat out of the bag, one year later...

As most of you know, because you were there, our wedding was on November 15th, 2008. However, what we didn't announce, but are now going to, is that exactly one year ago from today, according to the state of California, we actually became legally married.

On October 8th, 2008 we went to the Alameda County office and signed all of the forms to get hitched! We needed to get the paperwork done sooner than mid-late November because we were moving abroad so shortly after our wedding, so we decided to expedite the paperwork process.

It was so much fun! We told a few people, and Dave's best friend John was there to witness the event, but it really felt like we were sneaking away somewhere and getting married. It was casual, romantic, we made totally adorable spontaneous little speeches to each other, and we simply had a great time as you'll see in the photos below.

We did not announce it sooner because we did not want to take anything away from the magic that occurred at our wedding. We wanted that night to be special, and as you know if you were there, it totally was. Declaring our commitment to each other in front of our dearest friends, our families, and with our rabbi was very important to us. We'd do it all over again if we had the chance.










HAPPY ONE YEAR OF CIVIL MARRIAGE, MY LOVE!
 

Getting into the Halloween spirit

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#6 isn't too shabby!

The best countries to live in list came out and the Netherlands is #6. Not bad! Yes, Monica, no need to rub it in... Norway was #1. :)



The top ten countries listed on the index are: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.
 

full moon over our street tonight

Taco Salad night!

It's October... it's fall

September was a gorgeous month here in Amsterdam (possibly my favorite month since we've moved here), but as it came to a close the grey clouds, cool breeze, and rain drops returned. October is here and so is autumn in full force.

Men are wearing sweaters and the ladies have dusted off their trendy euro boots. It was still mostly dark this morning around 7am when we woke up. Winter is not too far away...